Rinck and Maine McDonald’s® Receive National Award

Rinck Advertising and Maine McDonald’s® Receive National  Make a Difference Day Award

Auburn, Maine (April 21, 2011) – Representatives from Rinck Advertising and Maine McDonald’s® recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to receive a national award from USA Weekend.
The group was honored for their Maine McDonald’s Breakfast Makes A Difference program, created for USA Weekend’s Make A Difference Day 2010. The Make A Difference Day Award included a $10,000 donation to Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Maine, Maine McDonald’s charitable arm. Heidi Abbotoni of Houlton represented the Maine McDonald’s Owner/Operator Association. Rinck Advertising staff included Vice President Laura Davis, Public Relations Manager Kristel Wagner, and Account Executive/Special Events Manager Kevin Mitchell.

“It is an honor to accept this prestigious award on behalf of our clients, the Maine McDonald's Owner/Operator Association and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Maine,” stated Laura Davis, Vice President and Co-owner of Rinck Advertising. “It’s such an incredible honor to be recognized for a project that has done well by doing good across the state.”

USA Weekend’s Make A Difference Day is the nation’s largest day of service. On October 23, 2010 – the 20^th Make A Difference Day – more than 3 million Americans volunteered to help an estimated 20 million people in need of food, shelter, care and love. The Maine McDonald’s Breakfast Makes A Difference program was featured in the April 8-10 issue of USA Weekend along with nine other award recipients from across the country. USA Weekend has a readership of 22.6 million and appears in 800 newspapers nation-wide.

The USA Weekend’s Make A Difference Day Awards ceremony was hosted by Emmy Award-winning journalist Cokie Roberts and country music recording artist Darius Rucker. The event was attended by USA Weekend’s editors, publishers and founders of Make A Difference Day. Several Washington dignitaries were also present, including former White House Chief of Staff (2001-2006) Andrew Card who spent some time chatting with the Maine contingent. Card has spent summers in Poland, Maine since he was a child.

While in Washington, the Rinck/Maine McDonald's group also met on Capitol Hill with Maine's senior U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe and Maine Congressman Mike Michaud who personally congratulated the team for their public service to children and family organizations across Maine.

The 2010 Maine McDonald’s Breakfast Makes a Difference initiative recruited over 100 volunteers to engage in projects at five organizations across Maine that had previously received funding from Ronald McDonald House Charities of Maine. The projects varied from maintenance and cleaning, to outdoor work such as clearing brush, fixing up an old playground, to cooking at a local Ronald McDonald House. The volunteers received tee-shirts, snacks from Newman’s Own® Organics and were served a wholesome breakfast by the McDonald’s UpTeam who delivered Egg McMuffins, Real Fruit Smoothies, Fruit n’ Yogurt Parfaits and Newman’s Own Organics Coffee.

Registration is available for the 2011 Maine McDonald’s Breakfast Makes a Difference program scheduled for Sat., Oct. 22, national Make A Difference Day. To sign up to volunteer, log on to www.rmhcmaine.org/volunteer.

About McDonald’s in Maine

Since December 2007, Rinck Advertising has been the Public Relations Agency of Record for the Maine McDonald’s Owner/Operator Association, a collaboration of 13 local McDonald’s franchisees across Maine and in eastern New Hampshire. The Maine McDonald’s Owner/ Operator Association provides support to the Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Maine, the Ronald McDonald Houses in Bangor and Portland and the Ronald McDonald Family Room® at Maine Medical Center. For more information about McDonald’s in Maine, visit www.mcmaine.com.

About Ronald McDonald House Charities

RMHC of Maine was founded in 1989 by the owner- operators of McDonald’s® restaurants in Maine and Eastern New Hampshire as a way to give back to the community.  Since then, RMHC of Maine has grown from a small not-for-profit organization to a powerful force of change in our communities and in our children’s lives. Over the past 22 years, RMHC of Maine has granted more than $1.7 million to local children’s programs that make a measurable impact in our communities. For more information about the Ronald McDonald House Charities, visit  www.rmhcmaine.org.

About Rinck Advertising

Located in Auburn, Maine since 2001, Rinck Advertising is located on the sixth floor at Two Great Falls Plaza. Rinck Advertising is a full service marketing, promotion and public relations firm offering management and creative services in brand building, logo and identity packages, web strategy and development, and advertising campaigns.

The agency represents a range of clients from New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Maine and Canada. Clients include Bedard, BlueWater Seafood, Building Solutions LLC, Dean Foods, Garelick Farms, Gorton’s Seafood, iParty, Maine McDonald’s Owner/Operator Association and Mechanics Savings Bank. For more information: www.rinckadvertising.com or call 207-755-9470.